On Wednesday, while having recess in the SAC (canteen) with classmates, I finished my plate of noodles and was waiting for the rest to finish theirs. Suddenly, a young boy (year 3 or below) carrying a pack of Oreos suddenly walked towards me and took my plate away. I was quite stunned at first and didn’t have time to react before he turned to walk away. After trailing him, my friends and I realised he wasn’t trying to play a prank or anything – he put my plate back to the correct stall container. This incident left quite an impact on me because I regretted not acting fast enough to thank him (and partly because I had no idea why I was his only target).

Thursday was violin exam day. I took one day to get over it. I hope I manage a pass, at least. I was feeling quite disappointed because I made quite a few unforgivable mistakes in my playing. Argh. Ok I don’t want to think about it anymore. I’ll decide how to react when the result comes out.

Today, there was supposed to be cross country. Most of the school dutifully turned up at West Coast Park, but just around 7 plus, there were huge storm clouds looming towards us and the wind was blowing really hard. But since there was no rain yet, we weren’t dismissed. At about 8am, it started pouring like crazy. There were a few tents set up around the big lawn, but fitting over 3000 students in them was certainly no joke. There was no way we could stay dry, especially when the strong winds were blowing all the rain into the narrow tents. Soon, the field started flooding and our shoes started getting soaked. It was a really pathetic sight. For over an hour, the whole school was just crammed under tents – most trying to fight the rain with umbrellas, and others either chatting or playing with their phones.

After more than an hour, the school was officially dismissed, but we couldn’t really move anywhere since we were stranded at our “safe spots”. Most people crowded at Macs or went home.

Tian Kai, Sharon, Justin, Yi Kai and I were huddled under a tent which was quite empty since most people had left. Standing under a tent hardly made any difference at all since the wind was just blowing all the rain at us. We later decided to walk out to find shelter on solid ground to avoid soaking our feet in a nutritious mud bath. By then, we were drenched through and shivering (literally) each time a gust of wind came.

For the next hour, we sat in one of the small shelters along the park and tried to wait for the rain to stop. It was cold, wet and tiring. We had to sit close together to conserve warmth and there were 2 umbrellas on hand used to try to block out wind and rain. I can’t describe fully how cold we were. My body had periodic vibrations (like a hand phone?) and my teeth started chattering occasionally. After what seemed like a very long wait, we decided to walk through the lighter rain (it hardly mattered anymore since we were already soaked). Then we rested at Macs and had lunch there.

Looking back on how I spent my morning, I think it was a traumatising, yet memorable experience. It’s these challenges you go through with others that strengthen bonds and create long lasting memories.

The five of us stranded in the field with our shoes thoroughly soaked

After lunch, we went to watch Despicable Me. That kind of sums up my tiring day.

I went for the Speech day/Prize-giving ceremony on Friday at SMSS and collected the certificates for Music and O level results. I had a chance to wear the green graduation gown (and I must say it was really stuffy on such a warm day). I overheard someone who put it very aptly - “we look like Christmas trees!”. There were some thoughts running through my mind during the ceremony, but I can’t really recall them now. I think they were mainly memories of the 4 years spent there. 

Here’s my plot of land on Farrer Road:

It looks a little bit like a floating plaque.. in loving memory of me? And in case anyone was wondering, no, I didn’t pass away in 2009. 

I had my final violin exam rehearsal today. I really hope no volcano in any corner of the world decides to erupt within this week. I’m not really feeling stressed about the exam, probably because I suffered too much preparing for it 3 months ago and depleted my stress bank. According to my violin teacher, my pieces are very good, so if I’m not too nervous during the exam, I should do fine. Now I just hope the sight reading and viva-voce isn’t going to be too hard.

Yay!

Today was the release of Common Test results.

I did better than I could imagine, and I really have God to thank for that.

I posted this on 4 July after my tests were over:

My best subject will probably be Chinese, followed by Econs. I got killed for the rest, so I don't really want to speculate about the order of my marks for now.

Looking back, my prediction was quite true. I did exceptionally well for Chinese and Econs. I fact, their marks were exactly the same. My next best subjects were Physics and Math, which were also tied. The last 2 subjects, English and Chem, differed by one mark. My subject marks have been split into 3 neat levels.

The subject with the most improvement made was Physics. I scored a devastating 11/40 for my first and only class test last term. That left me quite unconfident of my Physics and I started doubting if I should even consider a Physics EE.

When I got back English, I was really happy because I managed to get out of the fail-zone, with a decent pass. So far I’ve only passed English 3 out of 6 times.

Mom [to Dad]: Woah Lynn topped her level for Econs leh!

Dad: Who's gene was it?

Mom: Hmm let me trace back…

Was Math invented or discovered?

I really don’t know.. I can’t even make a stand yet. Saying it’s both would be just trying to take the easy way out…

[This section was typed and deleted at least twice, because I didn’t know whether or not to post more]

I woke up at 2.30am this morning to catch the match between Spain and Germany. Dad suddenly walked into the living room after half time and asked me for the score before joining me for the rest of the match. Jean said she wanted to watch but she didn’t manage to wake up. Xiao Jun was watching too but she fell asleep halfway… I was already getting suspicious because she was suddenly stopped smsing. I was supporting Germany but when I found out the octopus had already predicted Germany would lose, I lost hope already. Yes, I trust seafood… But really, this guy is accurate. Read the article below:

Paul the psychic octopus correctly predicts Germany defeat

Paul, an octopus in a German zoo who predicts the national side's football results, maintained his 100 per cent accuracy rate at this World Cup by foreseeing the team's downfall at the hands of Spain.

By Nick Collins
Published: 7:30AM BST 08 Jul 2010

Paul, the so-called "octopus oracle", predicts Spain's victory in their 2010 World Cup semi-final match against Germany Photo: REUTERS

The animal has become the most unusual celebrity at this year's tournament after correctly indicating whether Germany would win or lose each of their six games during the tournament.

His keepers at the zoo in Oberhausen claim he is psychic, and help him make his predictions by offering him mussels from two containers - one adorned with the German flag and one with that of their opponents.

Whichever vessel Paul chooses to eat from is held to be his tip to win the match - and his choice of Spain for last night's semi-final added further weight to his burgeoning reputation.

His talent was first spotted during the Euro 2008 finals, when he successfully picked the winner for each of Germany's games until the final - also against Spain.

His keeper, Oliver Walenciak, said before the match: "We know that all octopus have nine brains so we know he has exceptional powers.

"In the European Cup he got one game wrong. It was the final between Germany and Spain and he picked Germany which was wrong and this time he has picked Spain so we are thinking he must be wrong again."

But hopes that Paul had a blind spot for matches against Spain were crushed as a Carlos Puyol header ended Germany's hopes of winning the tournament.

Paul's unwavering accuracy this year has even seen him become a target for furious Argentinian fans, who blamed him for their side's quarter final defeat against Germany and threatened to eat him.

Mr Walenciak said: "There are always people who want to eat our octopus but he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive."

I found the second last paragraph the funniest.

Today, I went to the gym after not having exercised since the last PE lesson (sometime around my NAPHA test in April/May). Mom practically dragged me along with her. About 20 minutes into cycling on the fake magnetic bike, I felt a bit of thalasaemia minor acting up, but I continued cycling with gradually decreasing velocity. It got more unbearable towards the end of my workout but I persevered and was relieved to get off the bike. But that’s when my trouble started.

Mom and I went out of the gym to go back home. I was in the lift when I started blacking out. The walk back to my block was the longest and most scary/dangerous journey I ever made from the club house. I had to keep my head low and when I stepped out of the club house, I could hardly see where I was going. My vision was just filled with pixel-like stuff that made it very hard for me to see, and everything I heard was muffled. I had to make at least 5 stops along the way to squat down and let blood flow to my brain. It got worse as my journey progressed. At one point, I could hardly make it out of one of the lift lobbies. I couldn’t see the door and everything was completely black. Mom was holding me and trying to support me as I fumbled my way around. I vaguely remember someone entered the lift lobby while I was in my semi-conscious state – she must have been freaked out. I could hardly move and mom was trying to get a response from me.

After the stopovers and drunken-like walking, I finally made it to the 13th floor. I barely stepped out of the lift when I blacked out again. I don’t remember how I managed to reach my door. Mom was trying to guide me to the doorstep and I felt worse than a blind person. My head was throbbing and my legs hardly wanted to move. So I sat in front of my door for about a minute before making my way in. The whole thing managed to clear by the time I was done with my shower.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened, but one of the more serious ones I’ve ever experienced. Just this morning when I woke up, I nearly blacked out in the toilet. I lost some consciousness while walking from my bed, and managed to grab hold of the sink and cling on while trying to regain consciousness. But this sort of experience is what I’d consider minor and somewhat more frequent. I usually end up forgetting how I managed to get to my destination.

Ok I know this is a bit lag, but, yayyyy! Exams are over!

My best subject will probably be Chinese, followed by Econs. I got killed for the rest, so I don't really want to speculate about the order of my marks for now.

I'll be living this week like it's the June (July) holidays. I'm trying to make up for lost time in the holidays when I had to slog hard at revision. But have a whole list of things I need to clear this week - things I couldn't focus on because of my packed holiday, but which have deadlines approaching soon.

I'm finally going to visit the IR tomorrow with my grandparents and cousins, oh and Jean. I really wonder what it looks like close up, because all I've seen so far is 3 giant oddly curved buildings which look nearly the same. For some strange reason, probably the lack of colour, my brain seems to keep associating the IR with LCD pixels.